Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Duty Versus Love ❯ Since We Last Met ( Chapter 30 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Light-Eco-Sage 
Avatar is owned by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, not me!
Non Anime: Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Fantasy / Martial Arts / Romance / Supernatural / Angst | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.02.2013 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 642 | Status: Work In Progress
Avatar is owned by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, not me!
Non Anime: Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Fantasy / Martial Arts / Romance / Supernatural / Angst | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.02.2013 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 642 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter XXX: Since We Last Met
The Tale of Amaterasu
It was a nice day, and little Ammy felt better than she had in weeks, but it didn’t matter. No matter how wistfully she gazed out her window, she could not find the strength in her weak body to get herself out of bed.
She envied her brothers and sisters, who were currently playing outside… or so she thought.
It was very unusual for most of them to come keep her company. Most of her siblings thought she was weird. Some of them were down-right scared of her.
They feared her knowing, which was what the children called her strange ability because they neither knew the true name or the full extent of her ability. All they knew was that she knew things, things that she shouldn’t know.
In fact, only Anil and Sho would…
Ammy stiffened as her lungs froze and she was pulled to the ‘other place’ where she saw things.
She was back in her own room, but the room was kind of blurry, like she was seeing it through a mist.
A teenage boy was in the room with her, but she did not recognize him. He was speaking to her and holding her hand.
“You are the only real friend I’ve ever had.” He said. “Ammy, you know that we are not truly appreciated here. Those of us with Airbending abilities are to become Air Nomad breeding machines. And you are perceived as a worthless cast-off who should have died in infancy. A wasted opportunity.”
“I am aware…” Ammy heard herself saying with a strange voice. “That is what the world thinks… not our father.”
The young boy’s eyes narrowed. “Come with me, Ammy.”
“You know she cannot.” Another voice spoke.
Both looked around and Ammy saw a man in the doorway. He looked like her father, but obviously wasn’t. He was too young and his skin too dark and he had messy black hair, but he wore robes like her father and had those arrow markings.
“Don’t try to stop me.” The younger boy said.
“Do you realize what you are doing? Father’s all ready on the brink as it is. If he loses you…”
“Shut up!” The teenager yelled. “What would you, the favorite, know about anything?!?”
Ammy felt several strong emotions overwhelm her. Most of them she did not recognize. The one she did recognize… was fear. “Don’t fight.” She pleaded as the two boys dropped into threatening Martial Arts stances. “Stop it!” Ammy screamed.
Suddenly her blurry world when black and she heard someone calling her name over and over urgently.
“Ammy! Ammy! Ammy!”
Her vision cleared and she found herself looking into Sho’s worried face.
“Don’t fight.” Ammy whispered breathlessly, leaning forward against her brother.
“Ammy, what happened? Was it your knowing-thing again?” Sho asked, holding her awkwardly. Ammy nodded wordlessly. “Ammy…”
“I’m scared. It shows me bad things.” Ammy confessed. “Two people were going to fight. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want them to.”
“Do you want me to get Daddy?” Sho asked. He and Anil asked the same question after every one of her knowings. She always refused. Predictably, she shook her head.
Left with no known way to comfort the girl, because as far as he was concerned, Daddy was the only means of comfort in the whole world, Sho held Ammy as she cried.
The Tale of Toph and Sokka
Perhaps it was strange, but Sokka ran around the Air Temple like a Roosterduck with his head cut off.
He had just returned from a family trip to visit his in-laws on Kyoshi Island, but had ended up rushing back to the Temple with all haste.
Now he ran through the Temple, anxious to find Toph on behalf of his daughter, Michiko.
The four year old had given Sokka one of the worst scares of his life while the family was on Kyoshi Island, and he knew that Toph was the best person to help him.
“Toph!” Sokka yelled, running quickly towards Toph’s room. He could only hope that Toph was not on one of her frequent trips.
Like Sokka and his family, Toph was not tied down to the Air Temple. The Southern Air Temple impressed her far less than the others, so she spent a majority of her time traveling the Earth Kingdom as Aang’s liaison. Everyone missed her, but they understood that she was not one to be held back by anything or anyone.
Sokka reached Toph’s door and pushed it open without bothering to knock. His little ‘experience’ the night of his daughter’s birth should have taught him to knock; but it had been many years since he accidentally walked in on his sister and brother-in-law having sex. It had been so long, he’d forgotten the lesson. A bit unfortunate, too.
“Toph! I need your h…” Sokka’s plea for aid trailed off and died in his throat. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped; the perfect example of a ‘shocked’ expression.
For several seconds, he could barely comprehend what he had seen, even if it had stopped for the most part.
Toph was lying on her bed for some man! Sokka could not guess at this man’s identity because he could not see his face, but he was definitely Earth Kingdom. They had been kissing quite passionately when Sokka burst in, but they quickly stopped. Still, they could not hide the other evidences of their passion. His arms were wrapped firmly around Toph’s body and her legs were wrapped around his waist. Sokka barely had time to register the fact that she was wearing a modest dress before he realized that it had ridden all the way up to accommodate the young man between her legs. The only thing that kept Sokka from fainting on the spot was the knowledge that, at least, they were not having sex.
The man turned his gaze to Sokka. He had common Earth Kingdom features, and Sokka did not recognize him.
The Water Tribesman felt a surge of brotherly protectiveness turn his vision red. He could no longer protect Katara’s virtue. (It was kind of hard to protect something that had been given away years ago.) But Toph was like a second, more awesome sister to him, and he could protect her virtue from dirty little scoundrels just looking for a good lay.
Toph, who could probably sense Sokka’s anger even before him, quickly sat up and forced the young man to sit up as well. “Sokka…” She began.
“What in the name of the Spirits is going on here?!?” Sokka yelled, pointing accusingly at the young man. “Who are you?”
“You mean… you don’t recognize me?” The young man asked, and was answered by Sokka’s confused stare. “Well… I guess it has been twelve years.” He reached over towards Toph’s nightstand and grabbed a metal thing… a helmet. He didn’t have to put it on for Sokka to recognize him.
“Oh Spirits! Duke?” Sokka gasped, stunned.
The young man rolled his eyes. “How many times to I have to say it’s ‘The Duke’?”
“Oh, um… sorry.” Sokka quickly apologized. “But, uh… what’s going on here?”
“Gee, Sokka, you always claimed to be the smart one in the Gaang. You figure it out.” Toph said.
“Well, that answer is pretty obvious.” Sokka said. “Sorry, I’m just having a little trouble accepting this. I never imagined that you would get a boyfriend or…”
“So what? You, Aang, Zuko, and Katara are allowed to fall in love and get married, but I’m not?” Toph demanded.
“No! That’s not what I meant at all!” Sokka swiftly corrected himself. “I just meant that you are so independent… I never imagined you wanting or needing a man in your life.”
Toph and The Duke glanced at each other, and Toph shrugged. “As Aang would say: Love comes to us when we least expect it, but it is our job to follow it when it does.” Toph paused, thinking over her words. “Yeah, that sounds like something Aang would say.”
The Duke scratched the back of his neck nervously. “Listen, Sokka, for what it’s worth… I didn’t mean for anyone to walk in on Toph and I…” He trailed off nervously. “I mean, Toph and I have been here for several days, and Aang… I mean… Avatar Aang and Lady Katara would not walk in on us like that.”
“Exactly. What gives, Snoozles? I thought you learned your lesson about knocking when you walked in on Twinkletoes and Sugar Queen getting busy?” Toph asked.
The color drained from Sokka’s face. “Oh Spirits! Bad memories!”
“So, what do you want? I’m not going to wait forever.” Toph said.
“I need some of your Bending expertise.” Sokka said.
“I’m busy.” Toph said, grabbing the front of The Duke’s shirt and forcefully hauling him closer to her. “Get Aang or Katara.”
“But…”
“What about Aang and me?” A new voice asked at the door. Sokka instantly recognized his sister’s voice and turned to greet her.
However, the words never got past his lips because his eyes locked onto her lower abdomen. She was round with child, at least several months pregnant!
Sokka’s brain instantly overloaded and he fainted.
Toph laughed. “Now that is some entertainment!” She was still laughing when she pulled The Duke into another kiss.
The Tale of Zuko and Mai
Prior to the birth of his son, the new Prince of the Fire Nation, Kazuki, Zuko was the one who had every confidence that he and Mai would be good parents. Mai was the one with all the misgivings up until the day she gave birth.
On that day, the dynamic with the two changed drastically. Mai became infinitely more confident in herself as a mother. She realized that her dislike of children stopped firmly at her son, and she warmed up to the idea of motherhood considerably.
Now Zuko was the one who was terrified of fatherhood. His first sight of Kazuki had not caused him to be overwhelmed with joy, but horror.
All at once, he had realized that he didn’t exactly have the greatest role model when it came to fathers and became terrified of repeating his father’s mistakes.
In his fear of repeating Ozai’s mistakes, he actually began to commit them. He committed himself totally to his work as the Firelord to the point of neglecting his family in fear of damaging them.
Once again, Zuko’s heart was in the right place, but doing the wrong things because of it.
In fact, the only ‘member’ of his family that he had any contact with was his dragon, Kin.
The golden dragon had grown by leaps and bounds. The dragon was big enough to ride on short trips around the Fire Nation, but not fully grown yet.
Aang had been right about the Bond all those years ago. The first few months, Zuko felt like he was being driven slowly insane by the constant contact. But now, his contact with Kin was as much a part of his mind as his own thoughts. Anything he didn’t have that Bond, he missed it like one would miss a missing limb.
Zuko often likened the loss of his contact with Kin to the cutting off of his right hand. It was only a slight overstatement.
The Firelord was currently in the Palace Courtyard, overseeing Kin’s feeding. The dragon could eat his weight in meat in a week, but Zuko didn’t care.
He petted the golden dragon between his horns. “How did I ever think that I could do this?” Zuko asked both himself and the dragon. “Raising a baby is nothing like raising a dragon! It doesn’t help that I have the worst father to model after in history. But, if I fail, my son suffers… What can I do?”
“Zuko?” Zuko froze and then spun around at the sound of his wife’s voice. Mai stood at the edge of the courtyard, holding their son. “Zuko, do you really think that I don’t know what you are doing?”
“Mai?”
She moved closer to him. “I know why you’ve suddenly pulled away from us. I know that you’re worried about becoming a father like Ozai.”
“That’s not…”
“Zuko.” Mai said, giving her husband a glare that quieted him. “You know that you’ve never been the best liar. You think I don’t know what it’s like to be worried about raising a child because I have disappointing role models? My parents wouldn’t exactly win the ‘Parents of the Year’ award.”
“Mai, there is a huge difference between your parents and my father. My father was evil.” Zuko said.
“No, there is no difference.” Mai said. “Both of our parents were disappointments. But the important thing is that we are aware of our parents’ shortcomings. Because we know, we can make a choice. You can choose right now to be a part of your son’s life as a positive influence, or you can repeat your father’s mistakes in your efforts to avoid them.” Mai smiled at him. “And you have something I don’t: good parental role models.”
“But… my father…”
“Your mother was a good woman, was she not?” Mai pointed out. “And hasn’t General Iroh been a father to you in place of your own father?”
Zuko didn’t respond as he remembered how he faced his father on the Day of Black Sun all those years ago. He had proudly proclaimed that Iroh was a real father to him. Ozai had scoffed and told Zuko he would learn the ways of tea and failure.
Zuko learned neither tea nor failure from his uncle. (Iroh often lamented Zuko’s lack of understanding in the finer points of tea.) What he did learn from his was how to be a great person and a great leader.
He sighed and smiled at his wife. “You’re right.”
“Of course I’m right. I’m a woman.” Mai said playfully, handing Zuko their tiny, newborn son. Zuko held his son for the first time.
“I promise.” Zuko began. “I promise to do everything in my power to raise you like my uncle raised me… except maybe with less tea.”
The Tale of Amaterasu
It was a nice day, and little Ammy felt better than she had in weeks, but it didn’t matter. No matter how wistfully she gazed out her window, she could not find the strength in her weak body to get herself out of bed.
She envied her brothers and sisters, who were currently playing outside… or so she thought.
It was very unusual for most of them to come keep her company. Most of her siblings thought she was weird. Some of them were down-right scared of her.
They feared her knowing, which was what the children called her strange ability because they neither knew the true name or the full extent of her ability. All they knew was that she knew things, things that she shouldn’t know.
In fact, only Anil and Sho would…
Ammy stiffened as her lungs froze and she was pulled to the ‘other place’ where she saw things.
She was back in her own room, but the room was kind of blurry, like she was seeing it through a mist.
A teenage boy was in the room with her, but she did not recognize him. He was speaking to her and holding her hand.
“You are the only real friend I’ve ever had.” He said. “Ammy, you know that we are not truly appreciated here. Those of us with Airbending abilities are to become Air Nomad breeding machines. And you are perceived as a worthless cast-off who should have died in infancy. A wasted opportunity.”
“I am aware…” Ammy heard herself saying with a strange voice. “That is what the world thinks… not our father.”
The young boy’s eyes narrowed. “Come with me, Ammy.”
“You know she cannot.” Another voice spoke.
Both looked around and Ammy saw a man in the doorway. He looked like her father, but obviously wasn’t. He was too young and his skin too dark and he had messy black hair, but he wore robes like her father and had those arrow markings.
“Don’t try to stop me.” The younger boy said.
“Do you realize what you are doing? Father’s all ready on the brink as it is. If he loses you…”
“Shut up!” The teenager yelled. “What would you, the favorite, know about anything?!?”
Ammy felt several strong emotions overwhelm her. Most of them she did not recognize. The one she did recognize… was fear. “Don’t fight.” She pleaded as the two boys dropped into threatening Martial Arts stances. “Stop it!” Ammy screamed.
Suddenly her blurry world when black and she heard someone calling her name over and over urgently.
“Ammy! Ammy! Ammy!”
Her vision cleared and she found herself looking into Sho’s worried face.
“Don’t fight.” Ammy whispered breathlessly, leaning forward against her brother.
“Ammy, what happened? Was it your knowing-thing again?” Sho asked, holding her awkwardly. Ammy nodded wordlessly. “Ammy…”
“I’m scared. It shows me bad things.” Ammy confessed. “Two people were going to fight. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want them to.”
“Do you want me to get Daddy?” Sho asked. He and Anil asked the same question after every one of her knowings. She always refused. Predictably, she shook her head.
Left with no known way to comfort the girl, because as far as he was concerned, Daddy was the only means of comfort in the whole world, Sho held Ammy as she cried.
The Tale of Toph and Sokka
Perhaps it was strange, but Sokka ran around the Air Temple like a Roosterduck with his head cut off.
He had just returned from a family trip to visit his in-laws on Kyoshi Island, but had ended up rushing back to the Temple with all haste.
Now he ran through the Temple, anxious to find Toph on behalf of his daughter, Michiko.
The four year old had given Sokka one of the worst scares of his life while the family was on Kyoshi Island, and he knew that Toph was the best person to help him.
“Toph!” Sokka yelled, running quickly towards Toph’s room. He could only hope that Toph was not on one of her frequent trips.
Like Sokka and his family, Toph was not tied down to the Air Temple. The Southern Air Temple impressed her far less than the others, so she spent a majority of her time traveling the Earth Kingdom as Aang’s liaison. Everyone missed her, but they understood that she was not one to be held back by anything or anyone.
Sokka reached Toph’s door and pushed it open without bothering to knock. His little ‘experience’ the night of his daughter’s birth should have taught him to knock; but it had been many years since he accidentally walked in on his sister and brother-in-law having sex. It had been so long, he’d forgotten the lesson. A bit unfortunate, too.
“Toph! I need your h…” Sokka’s plea for aid trailed off and died in his throat. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped; the perfect example of a ‘shocked’ expression.
For several seconds, he could barely comprehend what he had seen, even if it had stopped for the most part.
Toph was lying on her bed for some man! Sokka could not guess at this man’s identity because he could not see his face, but he was definitely Earth Kingdom. They had been kissing quite passionately when Sokka burst in, but they quickly stopped. Still, they could not hide the other evidences of their passion. His arms were wrapped firmly around Toph’s body and her legs were wrapped around his waist. Sokka barely had time to register the fact that she was wearing a modest dress before he realized that it had ridden all the way up to accommodate the young man between her legs. The only thing that kept Sokka from fainting on the spot was the knowledge that, at least, they were not having sex.
The man turned his gaze to Sokka. He had common Earth Kingdom features, and Sokka did not recognize him.
The Water Tribesman felt a surge of brotherly protectiveness turn his vision red. He could no longer protect Katara’s virtue. (It was kind of hard to protect something that had been given away years ago.) But Toph was like a second, more awesome sister to him, and he could protect her virtue from dirty little scoundrels just looking for a good lay.
Toph, who could probably sense Sokka’s anger even before him, quickly sat up and forced the young man to sit up as well. “Sokka…” She began.
“What in the name of the Spirits is going on here?!?” Sokka yelled, pointing accusingly at the young man. “Who are you?”
“You mean… you don’t recognize me?” The young man asked, and was answered by Sokka’s confused stare. “Well… I guess it has been twelve years.” He reached over towards Toph’s nightstand and grabbed a metal thing… a helmet. He didn’t have to put it on for Sokka to recognize him.
“Oh Spirits! Duke?” Sokka gasped, stunned.
The young man rolled his eyes. “How many times to I have to say it’s ‘The Duke’?”
“Oh, um… sorry.” Sokka quickly apologized. “But, uh… what’s going on here?”
“Gee, Sokka, you always claimed to be the smart one in the Gaang. You figure it out.” Toph said.
“Well, that answer is pretty obvious.” Sokka said. “Sorry, I’m just having a little trouble accepting this. I never imagined that you would get a boyfriend or…”
“So what? You, Aang, Zuko, and Katara are allowed to fall in love and get married, but I’m not?” Toph demanded.
“No! That’s not what I meant at all!” Sokka swiftly corrected himself. “I just meant that you are so independent… I never imagined you wanting or needing a man in your life.”
Toph and The Duke glanced at each other, and Toph shrugged. “As Aang would say: Love comes to us when we least expect it, but it is our job to follow it when it does.” Toph paused, thinking over her words. “Yeah, that sounds like something Aang would say.”
The Duke scratched the back of his neck nervously. “Listen, Sokka, for what it’s worth… I didn’t mean for anyone to walk in on Toph and I…” He trailed off nervously. “I mean, Toph and I have been here for several days, and Aang… I mean… Avatar Aang and Lady Katara would not walk in on us like that.”
“Exactly. What gives, Snoozles? I thought you learned your lesson about knocking when you walked in on Twinkletoes and Sugar Queen getting busy?” Toph asked.
The color drained from Sokka’s face. “Oh Spirits! Bad memories!”
“So, what do you want? I’m not going to wait forever.” Toph said.
“I need some of your Bending expertise.” Sokka said.
“I’m busy.” Toph said, grabbing the front of The Duke’s shirt and forcefully hauling him closer to her. “Get Aang or Katara.”
“But…”
“What about Aang and me?” A new voice asked at the door. Sokka instantly recognized his sister’s voice and turned to greet her.
However, the words never got past his lips because his eyes locked onto her lower abdomen. She was round with child, at least several months pregnant!
Sokka’s brain instantly overloaded and he fainted.
Toph laughed. “Now that is some entertainment!” She was still laughing when she pulled The Duke into another kiss.
The Tale of Zuko and Mai
Prior to the birth of his son, the new Prince of the Fire Nation, Kazuki, Zuko was the one who had every confidence that he and Mai would be good parents. Mai was the one with all the misgivings up until the day she gave birth.
On that day, the dynamic with the two changed drastically. Mai became infinitely more confident in herself as a mother. She realized that her dislike of children stopped firmly at her son, and she warmed up to the idea of motherhood considerably.
Now Zuko was the one who was terrified of fatherhood. His first sight of Kazuki had not caused him to be overwhelmed with joy, but horror.
All at once, he had realized that he didn’t exactly have the greatest role model when it came to fathers and became terrified of repeating his father’s mistakes.
In his fear of repeating Ozai’s mistakes, he actually began to commit them. He committed himself totally to his work as the Firelord to the point of neglecting his family in fear of damaging them.
Once again, Zuko’s heart was in the right place, but doing the wrong things because of it.
In fact, the only ‘member’ of his family that he had any contact with was his dragon, Kin.
The golden dragon had grown by leaps and bounds. The dragon was big enough to ride on short trips around the Fire Nation, but not fully grown yet.
Aang had been right about the Bond all those years ago. The first few months, Zuko felt like he was being driven slowly insane by the constant contact. But now, his contact with Kin was as much a part of his mind as his own thoughts. Anything he didn’t have that Bond, he missed it like one would miss a missing limb.
Zuko often likened the loss of his contact with Kin to the cutting off of his right hand. It was only a slight overstatement.
The Firelord was currently in the Palace Courtyard, overseeing Kin’s feeding. The dragon could eat his weight in meat in a week, but Zuko didn’t care.
He petted the golden dragon between his horns. “How did I ever think that I could do this?” Zuko asked both himself and the dragon. “Raising a baby is nothing like raising a dragon! It doesn’t help that I have the worst father to model after in history. But, if I fail, my son suffers… What can I do?”
“Zuko?” Zuko froze and then spun around at the sound of his wife’s voice. Mai stood at the edge of the courtyard, holding their son. “Zuko, do you really think that I don’t know what you are doing?”
“Mai?”
She moved closer to him. “I know why you’ve suddenly pulled away from us. I know that you’re worried about becoming a father like Ozai.”
“That’s not…”
“Zuko.” Mai said, giving her husband a glare that quieted him. “You know that you’ve never been the best liar. You think I don’t know what it’s like to be worried about raising a child because I have disappointing role models? My parents wouldn’t exactly win the ‘Parents of the Year’ award.”
“Mai, there is a huge difference between your parents and my father. My father was evil.” Zuko said.
“No, there is no difference.” Mai said. “Both of our parents were disappointments. But the important thing is that we are aware of our parents’ shortcomings. Because we know, we can make a choice. You can choose right now to be a part of your son’s life as a positive influence, or you can repeat your father’s mistakes in your efforts to avoid them.” Mai smiled at him. “And you have something I don’t: good parental role models.”
“But… my father…”
“Your mother was a good woman, was she not?” Mai pointed out. “And hasn’t General Iroh been a father to you in place of your own father?”
Zuko didn’t respond as he remembered how he faced his father on the Day of Black Sun all those years ago. He had proudly proclaimed that Iroh was a real father to him. Ozai had scoffed and told Zuko he would learn the ways of tea and failure.
Zuko learned neither tea nor failure from his uncle. (Iroh often lamented Zuko’s lack of understanding in the finer points of tea.) What he did learn from his was how to be a great person and a great leader.
He sighed and smiled at his wife. “You’re right.”
“Of course I’m right. I’m a woman.” Mai said playfully, handing Zuko their tiny, newborn son. Zuko held his son for the first time.
“I promise.” Zuko began. “I promise to do everything in my power to raise you like my uncle raised me… except maybe with less tea.”